


Tekkit Troubles

by MadXWrites



Category: SMP live, SMPLive
Genre: Alternate Universe - Video Game World, Angst, Comfort, SMPLive - Freeform, Tekkit Verse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-05 02:29:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20481377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadXWrites/pseuds/MadXWrites
Summary: {{DISCONTINUED}} Sun Whale Defense Solutions is well-known for their professional services of protection, but how do they protect themselves from one another?





	1. Trouble in Tekkit Town

“But what if we put the storefront on the hill, so it can be seen from far away? We’d also be able to have a lookout on who is coming towards us...” Noah and Cooper were standing outside, Noah pointing at different locations while Cooper held blueprints open in his hands. Cooper’s blonde hair was pulled back into a low ponytail, the sleeves of his jumpsuit rolled up to his elbows. His lips were pursed as he studied the blueprints.

“We’d have to do some terraforming, though,” he brought Noah’s attention to the blueprints, “We wanted a big enough area to include a small waterfall for decoration, so we’d have to add some more ground over there if we continue with this.” Noah hummed in response, rubbing his lightly-bearded chin. He only had one side of his jumpsuit fully on, the side with his nametag, and the other was hanging loosely on his side. Underneath, he wore a simple white tank top - he tended to get overheated quickly. 

Within the warehouse, Travis was beneath the compressor with a wrench, mumbling to himself. His hair was also tied back, into a high ponytail, and his jumpsuit was covered in dirt. The pipes were, once again, not working, since Noah overloaded the machines with blaze rods again, so he was trying to fix the machinery while the other two were discussing…something else outside. Travis didn’t really pay the business part of their company any mind, at least not at the moment, and thought that focusing more on gaining resources and product stability would lead to a better outcome. The other two didn’t agree, however, and decided to work out the plans anyways, leaving Travis to do the heavy work mostly on his own.

He was fine with it at first, working alone on this sort of thing usually lead to less mistakes, and he was sated as long as things were still being productive. When it got to the point that Cooper and Noah would boss him around regarding machinery and resources, Travis got annoyed and spoke up about it. _ ‘You guys realize that this is supposed to be a group effort, right?’ He huffed, blowing a piece of hair out of his face. ‘Why don’t you guys ever work on this sort of thing?’_

_Noah shrugged and silently continued writing in his journal, most likely more business plans that were far from ever being enacted. Cooper was the one to respond. ‘Well, we ARE a business, and since you don’t have any interest in actually building a company and a reputation, Noah and I have to.’ He obviously wasn’t happy that Travis didn’t agree with their opinions, but Travis wasn’t about to agree with Cooper on company decisions just because they were best friends._

_Travis knew he wasn’t going to get anywhere with them today, so he quietly returned to upgrading their storage._

That was one of the first times their disagreement had been blatantly addressed, and since then there had been tension between the trio. Travis hated it. He missed being able to joke around with the other two and build Sun Whale Defense Solutions as a team. To him, it felt like Cooper and Noah were teaming together while Travis was just their tech guy. He felt unwelcome, unappreciated. But he didn’t say anything. He was too afraid of losing his friends.

When Cooper and Noah couldn’t decide whether or not they should go through the effort of terraforming the hill, Cooper entered the warehouse looking for Travis. “Hey, Travis?” He spoke, looking around for the other boy. He jumped a little when Travis’ head poked up between the pipes in the floorboards, face dusted with some peculiar powder. Cooper shook his head and waved the other over, “Can I get your opinion on this?”

Travis heaved himself out from his hole, albeit with some difficulty trying to not disturb the placement of the pipes, and made his way over to Cooper. The blonde held out the blueprints for the storefront and began explaining their plans. Travis listened, though after some time he developed a frown on his face. Their plan was great and all, but one thing bothered him about it.

“Uh, while it sounds nice, how are we going to get the resources to build it?” Travis questioned, eyes flicking to give a questioning gaze at Cooper. The blonde shrugged and pursed his lips.

“We uh, we were kinda hoping you’d be able to figure out that part.” 

Travis’ eyebrows lowered. Of course he knew how to get the resources, destruction catalysts and quarries were able to be created, but that’s not the point. The fact that his coworkers expected this from him without communicating at all beforehand really did not sit well with him. Travis had no idea what the others were working on, all he knew was that it had nothing to do with product production. And, thinking more into it, these sorts of resource collections take time, something Travis knew Cooper and Noah had no patience for. They would not only have to build the machinery to collect these materials, but then even the collection would take a great amount of time. And since Travis knew the other two were most definitely not going to help him with this project, he had no interest in starting it. 

“I don’t really think this is what we should be focusing on right now, Cooper.” He sighed. “We barely have our pipes working correctly for more than an hour at a time. I think we should slow down on these projects and get some stability with what we have first.” It felt good to finally express his opinion, and it felt easier to do it when it was only him and Cooper, rather than having Noah as Cooper’s backup, but that didn’t mean Cooper would listen to him.  
Cooper huffed. “Travis, you don’t understand. We have to get some sort of business front up in order to have some sort of relevancy to the community. If we don’t start now, our company won’t be respected. We need to establish our goals and services now before someone else can nab them.” He rolled up the blueprints and set them on the crafting table, turning back towards his friend. “Noah and I will help you with this, oka-“

“Pfft, yeah, right.” Travis scoffed. “You two haven’t helped me with any of the machinery we have now! Why should I believe that you’re all of a sudden gonna help me?” He crossed his arms and glared. He was tired. He’d been working all morning on these damn pipes, and this conversation was only worsening his headache. 

Cooper threw his hands in the air. “You haven’t told us what you needed help with! How are we supposed to help you if you don’t communicate with us!?”

“You two haven’t listened to anything I’ve had to say!”

“Well maybe if you fucking listened to what Noah and I have been saying, you would agree with us!”

Travis was getting overwhelmed. He was too tired to have this conversation right now. He was too frustrated to listen to himself think. He was too hurt to look at Cooper in the eyes anymore. He had to go.

The younger boy quickly turned away from Cooper, walking over to his backpack that was set on the floor next to the pipes. He picked it up, and without saying anything to the other, made a beeline for the door. “TRAVIS!” He heard Cooper shout, but it was muffled beneath his raging thoughts. They wouldn’t stop racing. 

And neither would his tears.

If he had been more coherent, he would have heard Noah shouting his name, too, but he was too focused on putting one foot in front of the other. He didn’t know which direction he was headed in, he didn’t care, he just needed to get away right now. 

\--------

The sky above him kept him company, covering him with colors of blue, orange, pink, and then a blanket of darkness. The tears had stopped a little while ago, but his head still ached and his muscles were throbbing with exhaustion. Travis leaned against an oak tree, breathing through his nose and out his mouth to try and calm himself down. The night was calm - the sky was clear of clouds and the crescent moon shown down brightly, a smile that Travis couldn’t return. 

He slumped down against the tree, taking off his backpack and setting it in his lap, hugging it tightly. His eyes fluttered and ached, pleading to be given a break from the day. He allowed them to close, and within minutes he was drifting off to sleep.

Travis’ sleep was hollow, though, and he couldn’t fully extinguish his thoughts. He thought back to the events from earlier, Cooper’s hostile expression, Noah’s dismissiveness. But he also thought of the way they called for him as he ran, ran away from his makeshift family. Tears threatened to fall again, and he sobbed quietly. 

The crunching of leaves made his heart-rate spike, fear spreading throughout his sternum. He held his backpack tighter and brought his knees into his chest. Looking into the direction of the noise, he watched as light slowly poured through the trees, revealing a shadowed figure. As the figure got closer, Travis recognized the features – black hair pulled into a bun accompanied by a headband, a mouth covered by a mask – and didn’t know whether to be relieved or afraid.

“What are you doing out here?”


	2. Infantile Conversations

Poke knew from the very beginning that his company’s dynamic was far from common, but he wouldn’t want it any other way. The three of them were very unprofessional with each other, but the work always managed to get done, and in high quality. Their only setbacks were when they dicked around a little too much, usually meaning they used the weapons on each other (James would always declare it a “test round”). Miraculously, they’ve only gotten injured a few times, Poke being the most. He knows he tends too get pretty rowdy. But they always heal up after a while, meaning they’re not going to stop anytime soon.

The Explosive Babies felt more like a group of friends collaborating rather than a weaponry corporation. Though Poke and Sneeg were considered the “bosses”, they treated James, the “intern”, no differently (besides the occasional teasing, but what’s friendship without that?). They worked well together, and Poke was confident that their business would be successful.

But then Sun Whale came along.

\--------

When Poke first met Cooper, he knew the guy had a fight in him. The blonde had stumbled upon himself and James while they were extracting rubber from trees in a nearby forest. Poke had only noticed the other’s presence when James had spoken. “Hello?”

Poke turned and studied the other quickly: dark green hoodie with sleeves rolled up to the elbows, blonde hair pulled into a low ponytail, a face that wouldn’t crack, but eyes that showed an inkling of curiosity. He was going to be trouble.

“Oh, hey. I was just wandering around, checking out the area...” The blonde greeted, putting his hands in his pockets and looking around the forest. “You guys live around here?” Poke grunted in acknowledgement, eyeing the other. The blonde caught his eyes and gave a little smirk. “My name’s Cooper.” 

Poke nodded his head towards his companion. “That’s James, and I’m Poke.” He pointed over his shoulder. “We own the land West from here, just next to the desert.” Cooper hummed and walked over to one of the trees, placing his hand on its trunk. 

Cooper threw a questioning look their way, “So, are you guys one of the businesses around here, then?” He removed his hand from against the trunk and placed it back in his pocket, leaning his weight on the tree and crossing one leg over the over. The slight tilt of his head indicated his interest in the conversation, and his smirk was still lightly dancing over his lips. Poke didn’t like his confidence.

“We’re called the Explosives Babies, man. We make the best explosives around, hints the name.” James spoke up, fiddling with his tree tap. When he finally got the tube separate, he threw it into his backpack and replaced it with an empty one. “You should stop by some time and check it out.”

Poke wasn’t really happy with that offer, but in order to be polite, he added on a “yeah, for sure”. 

“Cool,” Cooper smiled and pushed off the tree. He turned sideways and lightly waved his hand, leaving with the departing words of “I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around.” 

Poke turned to James and glared, “I don’t like him.” James shrugged and turned back to his rubber tree.

“I don’t know, he doesn’t seem all that bad.”

Poke grumbled to himself, but also returned to tapping the trees. 

\--------

After that encounter, Poke had kept an eye out for Cooper and his inevitable plans. He had noticed when Cooper brought along two other people one day, whose name’s he later learned to be Noah and Travis, and had then ordered Sneeg and James to keep a lookout as well. Their small business was known as Sun Whale Defense Solutions, which he learned from Schlatt, and they were supposedly making weapons. Poke really didn’t like this fact, as it meant they would be direct competitors. 

Poke slammed his hands down on the table Sneeg and James were working at, causing them both to slightly jump. “We have to do something about Sun Whale.” He looked over what the other two were doing, and pieced together that it was some sort of instant-ignite dynamite. Cool, but not their concern at the moment.

Sneeg raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean? They haven’t even established their business entirely yet. As far as I know, their “protection services” are still weak.” He shrugged, turning back to the mess of gunpowder and paper on the table. He rolled up one of the papers and packed it with a mixture of powders, placing a seal on the end. 

Poke groaned, “Remember when they helped Schlatt get his oil back from us?” He sat down in the chair across from James, crossing his arms. “I know we were weaker back then, but they’ve already got one win under their belt. We’re lacking.” He unhappily remembered the guns they had trained on the three of them. The element of surprise really mattered.

James tested a fuse and grumbled when it didn’t light, tossing it into a nearby bin. “So what do you suppose we do?” He picked up another fuse string and twisted it, bringing the lighter to its tip and lighting it. It lit, and he quickly waved out the flame and did a small motion of triumph. 

They sat in silence for a few moments while they individually thought, James and Sneeg still idly tinkering while Poke just stared into space. Poke sucked in a breath and widened his eyes, looking up at the other two. “We need to break them apart from the inside.”

Sneeg gave the other an incredulous look. “And how do you plan on doing that? The three of them are like a family, like us, no homo. How do you expect us to pull that off?” 

Poke smirked and clasped his hands on the table, leaning in. “Remember when Schlatt and them came here? And how they scattered around pretty quickly?” His memories of the day continued to flow, more detail being uncovered with every second he thought. “There was one person who seemed… a little off, to say the least.” 

The other two thought for themselves before James spoke, “Are you talking about Travis?”

Poke nodded. “Travis was kind of all over the place. He was even standing on our side once when we were supposed to be having a stand off! I mean, c’mon, that’s something we can work with.” He leaned back and rested one of his ankles in his knee.

Sneeg hummed and set down his current roll. “Y’know what? You might be right. Travis does seem like the kind of guy who’s like…”, he made circles with his finger next to his head, “not all there.” He began to dust off his hands but paused, “But aren’t Travis and Cooper, like, best friends? How are we supposed to break that up?”

James nodded in agreement. “Those two are like a package deal. Since Cooper brought the other two along, I’ve barely seen one without the other.”

Poke shrugged and put a finger in the air. “But,” he began, “I have been keeping an eye on them for the past however long, and I’ve been noticing some things. Some very… interesting things.” He stood up from the chair and looked outside the window, noticing how the sun was beginning to droop. “Travis hasn’t been working with Cooper as much anymore, it’s mainly Cooper and Noah. Honestly, I rarely see the guy outside of their warehouse, and whenever I do, he seems off. They’re not how they used to be,” he turned back to the other two with a cynical smile, “which means now is our chance.”

\--------

The three devised a plan on how they would get Travis onto their side, or at the very least off of Sun Whale’s side, before separating for the night. Sneeg got to work on upgrading their extractor while James left to somewhere upstairs, leaving Poke to think. He had been doing a lot of that recently, and his plans had left him feeling confident in his abilities. On his new high, he left their base with one of the blunderbusses, deciding to waste his energy on some hunting. 

He whistled to himself as he walked leisurely through the meadow, the gun strapped around his back. He stopped every once in a while when he saw a pig or a chicken, the sound of the bullet muffled by the silencer. He was grateful they had advanced that far with their gear, as he had learned in the past, the element of surprise is key. Nobody would hear the bullet ring throughout the nearly-silent night, and that’s just how he liked it. No need for dramatics. 

He had wrapped up the meat of two pigs and three chickens by the time he reached the forest, where he decided a walk wouldn’t be so bad. Why not, he was already on his way back, might as well change the scenery to something different so he didn’t get bored. He decided to ignite a torch beforehand, though, as he didn’t feel like breaking his ankle tripping over the tree roots. 

Poke continued his trek back until he heard staggered breathing coming from his left, nearer to the edge of the forest. He considered ignoring it, but decided his curiosity would rather be sated than left to ponder. As he made his way closer, the breathing sounded more like sobs, and Poke became more concerned than curious. He tried to quietly approach, but when he was a mere few feet away, he forgot to pay attention to the ground and crunched on a particularly loud pile of leaves, muttering a small “fuck” to himself when he heard the person (?) take a sharp breath. He continued on anyways, slowly making his way to the other. When the torch light revealed the tearstained face of Travis, his thoughts blanked. They stared at each other for a good ten seconds before Poke spoke up,

“What are you doing out here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two weeks with no tekkit streams? Time to write my own drama!
> 
> Weekly updates? Maybe? We'll see how it goes.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	3. Home Alone

When he watched Travis run away from the base, Cooper’s anger rapidly muted and was replaced with a sinking feeling in his chest. Shouting his friend’s name did no good, and Cooper could do nothing but watch as Travis’ receding figure shrunk away. The blonde turned to Noah with an exasperated expression, not having the slightest idea of what to do. Noah was in no better condition, mimicking his face with a similar expression. They messed up, and they could only hope Travis would come back soon.

But that didn’t help the guilty feeling the two boys shared.

Fuck.

-

“God damnit!” Cooper shouted at the pipes, the blaze powder (once _again_) overflowing and bursting from the cracks. Before, they were able to fix it to the point that it would only break if Noah overloaded the system. But now, it could barely handle one crushed rod at a time. And since Travis was the one that fixed these sorts of things, Cooper had no clue on how to approach it. 

He breathed heavily, thinking back to their argument and its outcome. It had been some time now and Travis still hadn’t returned, and the remaining Sun Whale members were constantly worried. Would he ever come back? Is he still mad? 

…Is he okay?

They hadn’t heard a word from anyone of where Travis was. Schlatt had come by a day or two ago just to check up on them, and when he questioned where Travis was, they had lied and said he was down in the mines. Schlatt had shrugged it off and wished them the best (_“But not better than me!”_), leaving them to their devices. Cooper considered it a small victory that the blaze powder refrained from exploding while they had a guest.

But the powder was spewing out now, and grumpily he grabbed a wrench, eyeing up the confusing machinery. This wasn’t going to be fun.

It took about two hours, but the pipes were finally working somewhat properly again. The blonde wiped the sweat from his door, making his forehead an odd dusty-orange color from the powder. He sighed in relief, smiling and turning around, “Hey Trav-“

About to share his accomplishment, he stopped himself, smile slipping from his face. Noah wasn’t in the warehouse, off somewhere working on a separate project, and so Cooper was alone. The room felt bigger than usual, its white walls seemingly endless and hollow.

All of a sudden, the blaze powder production seemed unimportant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter this week, but do not fear, the next ones will be longer! Things will begin to pick up.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	4. Foster Home

Travis stared cautiously at Poke for a good minute, thinking of what to say. He didn’t realize he had travelled close to the Explosive Babies’ land, and therefore wasn’t expecting any sort of interaction. He was always bad with directions.

“…nothing.” Was his intelligent response.

Poke rolled his eyes and tipped his head. “Yeah, I’m not buying that. It’s nearly one a.m. and you just decided ‘oh, what a lovely night to sleep in the woods?’” Travis huffed.

“Well, it’s none of your business.” He crossed his arms, and his demeaner would have looked confident had his cheeks not been tearstained. 

Poke threw his hands up in mock-surrender. The two stood in silence, Travis averting eye-contact while Poke tried to figure out what to say. He sighed and spoke up. “Listen, Travis, I don’t know what’s going on and you don’t have to tell me, but why don’t you come with me back to our base for tonight? I don’t know what type of things are in these woods at night, and since I’m the last one who’s seen you, I’d seem very suspicious if you went missing.” He joked lightly at the end, but there was still some truth in the statement. 

Travis rolled his eyes at Poke’s words but considered it. Did he really want to sleep outside tonight? And it was only for one night, there was nothing he’d need to commit to. He continued to weigh the pros and cons, and decided taking Poke’s offer would probably be the smarter choice. 

He began putting his backpack on and stood up before he turned to Poke, eyeing him cautiously, “You’re not going to murder me, right?”

Travis could see Poke’s cheeks raise against his mask, his eyes glittering. “Not tonight.”

Well, that was reassuring.

-

When the pair arrived back at the EB’s base, Travis didn’t really have any idea of what to expect. He’d only ever seen the outside of the base, and even that was a long time ago. Their base was now two-story, built with high-quality marble and complimenting dark oak. It looked more like a modern home than a business base, both outside and inside.

Travis followed Poke through the door, walking slowly and taking in his surroundings intently. When Poke offered him a seat, he took it, continuing to look around. It felt very homey, and he felt his heart sink slightly.

Travis was too inside his own thoughts to hear the discussion that was occurring nearby.

“Bro, what the fuck?” Poke snaps his head towards the staircase to his left, seeing James slowly descend. The latter is obviously tired, his gloves removed and his goggles hung loosely around his neck. He probably accidentally fell asleep while tinkering again.

Poke motioned him over and put a finger to his lips, shushing him. When James was by his side, he whispered, “I found him sitting alone in the woods while I was out hunting. By the looks of him, he’d been crying, and he won’t tell me why. I offered him a place to stay for the night.” Poke eyed the seated boy, who was still spacing out with a sad expression. Poke felt something in his chest, and he didn’t know what exactly it was he was feeling, but he knew he didn’t like it.

James grunted when he processed the information “You think it has something to do with Sun Whale?” James nodded towards Travis, who was still wearing his SWDS jumpsuit. Poke shrugged, but silently agreed that that was most likely the case. 

“I think this may be our chance, James.” Poke gave his companion a sly smile. “We need to get him comfortable enough to tell us what happened, and then convince him to stay.” He nudged the other’s shoulder. “And maybe he could even intern with you one day.”

James eyes glittered with mischief and he gave his own smirk in return. “You should get Sneeg to talk to him, god knows I wouldn’t know what to say. And, no offense, but I think you’re probably the last person he’d want to share anything to.” Poke rolled his eyes, but left to go find Sneeg.

Sneeg was found sketching blueprints for some sort of new explosive, eyes focused and tongue peeking through his lips. Poke snuck up behind him and leant over his shoulder. “…hi.” Sneeg tensed and turned to glare at the other, who was now snickering. He finished up the (now mostly) straight line he was making and set his tools down, turning to the other.

“What do you want?”

Poke nodded his head towards the main area of their home. “We have a guest that I need you to talk to.” Sneeg raised an eyebrow and followed Poke as he began walking towards the entryway. Peeking his head around the corner, he saw Travis fiddling with his backpack straps, and his eyes widened. 

Sneeg turned back to Poke, “Why the hell is Travis here?”

Poke patted him on the shoulder. “That’s what I need you to figure out.” He proceeded to give Sneeg a similar summary of what he told James about the situation. “Just, try and get the guy to trust you, alright?” Sneeg sighed but nodded, shrugging off Poke’s hand. Poke gave him a goofy smile and a thumbs up before making his way upstairs to give them some privacy.

Sneeg looked back into the room and took a deep breath before making his way towards the other boy. Travis seemed to tense up when he heard his footsteps get closer, so Sneeg gave him a small smile when their eyes met. “Hey, Travis. Long time no see.” 

Travis weakly returns Sneeg’s smile with one of his own, “Yeah..” 

Sneeg motions towards their kitchen with a raised eyebrow. “Would you like anything to drink? Eat?” Travis shakes his head. Sneeg takes the seat next to him.

They sit in awkward silence for a good amount of time, Sneeg trying to figure out the right words to say. Fed up with the lack of talking, he speaks up, “Trav, what happened to you?” He said sympathetically. Though he knew this was all just a ploy to advance their business, he did have some empathy for the other. That was just a part of him.

Travis didn’t respond, looking down at his hands and nervously fidgeting them. When he continued to not speak, Sneeg sighed and began to stand up, turning over his shoulder when a quiet voice stops him. 

“…They wouldn’t listen to me…” 

Sneeg turns back around and holds the back of the chair with his hand, not sitting down quite yet. When Travis looks up at Sneeg’s face, the standing man gives him a reassuring nod.

“It was as if I was invisible to them. They didn’t care about what I had to say about things, even if they were the ones to ask for my opinion. To them I’m just..just some sort of mechanical monkey! All I do is develop and fix the machinery, which is the hardest freaking part of our business so far, and they don’t give me any credit! I’m supposed to be at the same ranking as Cooper, but he treats with less respect than Noah, less respect than an intern! I’m just…just so tired! I’m so tired of being ignored…” Travis’ voice cracked repeatedly throughout his spiel, tears brimming his eyes and cheeks flaring a frustrated red. 

Sneeg at some point had sat back down, leaning on his knees and listening wholeheartedly to Travis’ rant. He had to admit, the guy was in a shit situation, and it was no wonder he had decided to leave them for the night. Sneeg genuinely felt bad for him, and he didn’t really know what to say as the other softly sobbed across from him.

He placed his hand on the other’s knee after letting the words float around them for a minute or two. “Would you like me to get you some clothes?” He said, nodding to the dirty jumpsuit the other was wearing. Travis sniffled and nodded, eyes puffy and heartbreaking. Sneeg stood up and motioned the shorter boy to follow him.

They made their way upstairs, Travis focusing on slowing his breathing with every step he took. He didn’t know what came over him – it wasn’t like him to just emotionally explode like that – but he did feel better after getting things off his chest. He followed Sneeg into one of the bedrooms, waiting in the doorway as the taller rummaged through a drawer, picking out a black shirt and a pair of gray sweats. “I’m sure James won’t mind letting you borrow these,” he spoke, handing the smaller boy the clothes, “I would give you some of mine, but I think you’d drown in them.” Sneeg considered it a small victory that Travis smiled at that. 

Travis thanked him and made his way towards the bathroom that Sneeg pointed out to him beforehand. Removing the jumpsuit felt like removing a second skin, but he felt more refreshed that sad about its departure from his body. He dressed in the clothes he was given, which were still a bit big but manageable, and picked up the jumpsuit, leaving the bathroom. He runs into Poke, who was leaning against the wall next to the entryway of the main room. The other smiles at him, pushing off the wall and making his way over.  
“You can give that to me, I’ll throw it in the next time one of us needs to do a load of laundry.” Poke offered, motioning towards the dirty jumpsuit. Travis held it out willingly and the other took it into his hands, folding it in two and resting it on his elbow. “I had James put together a bed for you, if you’d like to go get some sleep.” Travis nodded and Poke took that as his que to begin walking.

They made their way back to the room Sneeg had raided earlier, but now there was another bed shoved in the corner, nearer to the window. James was also in the room, giving the two a small wave as he folded some of his clothes. 

“Since James here is our intern, we decided it’d be best if he were the one to room with you for tonight.” Poke explained, throwing eyes at James when Travis wasn’t looking. “If you need anything, don’t feel bad about waking him up. He sleeps all the time anyways.” James gave him a fake laugh and a middle finger. Travis smiled at their antics, and bid Poke a goodnight as he left the room. 

Travis felt awkward sharing a room with James, and sat down on his bed hesitantly. The other would barely talk to anyone outside of Poke and Sneeg, besides that one time he asked Cooper if their macerator was running: 

_Cooper: “Yeah, why?”_  
_Poke, cupping his hands around his mouth and screaming behind James: “Then you better go catch it!” They then proceeded to run away from SWDS giggling._  
_Cooper shook his head, an amused yet annoyed smile on his face. “Fucking morons.”_

So, Travis never really interacted with James at all. He seemed nice enough, as he hadn’t done anything malicious to him thus far, but Travis still felt weird about having a sleepover with someone who was supposed to be on his opposing team. That didn’t stop him from being polite, though.

“Um, James,” He spoke up, getting the other’s attention. James’ hair was spiked in every direction, making him look rather goofy in Travis’ opinion. He felt more comfortable talking with that opinion in his head. “Thank you for the clothes.”

“Oh, no problem, man.” James answered with a smile. He placed the last of his folded clothes into his dresser, shutting the drawers. He walked towards the light switched and looked over his shoulder, “It alright if I turn off the lights?” Travis nodded, and darkness swallowed them.

Travis laid down and listened as James’ footsteps walked back towards the bed, listened to the comforter being shuffled around as the other got into bed, and listened to the silence as the other fell asleep. His thoughts were muted, and the darkness around him accompanied by the moonlight peeking through the window put his mind at ease. He felt his eyes grow heavy, and without a second thought, Travis fell asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there!  
The SmpLive fandom is severely lacking in fanfiction that isn't toxic, so I wanted to create something that all members can enjoy! There will be no shipping in this story.
> 
> You can also find me on tumblr! @smp-writes
> 
> Thank you for reading! Feedback is always appreciated <3


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